Getting Grass Out of Ajuga or Good Grief, My Back is NOT a Pretzel!

It's not a fun task.  But if I want to keep my ajuga grass free (and I do!), I have to do it every spring. I did more bending yesterday than I have done in quite a few months. Here is a little spot of ajuga (a ground cover) with a few spikes of grass growing right in the middle.

The only way I know of to get it out is to brutally dig down and pop the ajuga clump right out of the ground.

Then I gently separate and shake the area where the grass is until I can grab the grass clump with all the roots and pull it out.  I always wear gloves to do this, but it was too difficult to wear gloves and snap a photo at the same time.

Once I pull out the grass, I lay the clump of ajuga back and move to the next section.


It's a very labor intensive job.

After a couple of hours of digging, cutting down and hauling loads of debris from the main gardens (halfway through I brought out my new BIG wheelbarrow),

I took a break from the hard work and puttered around with some garden accents.

I brought a blue chair out to the wagon wheel garden. While playing with a twig basket of kale and some colorful orbs, I got an up-close  view of my fully opened tulips.




Speaking of tulips, look at this one from the rockwall garden. Have you ever seen anything like it?


I don't know where the paint brush-like stripe of red came from.

I brought the cordyline out to get used to the sunlight. It gave me something of interest to rest my eyes on as I was cleaning out the beds near the road.

Later in the afternoon DH power washed the deck (I helped a little. It's a fun job and he likes to do it, so he only let me do  a few sections). 

He also power washed the metal table/chairs. Now there's some patina!

 Since he hogged all the power-washing fun, I decided to paint some birdhouse garden accents in bumblebee colors. 

 

All in all I had a very active day -- even cooked a pork roast with dressing (well, just Stovetop) for dinner. I was pretty tired at the end of it all and went to bed early (thus I am up at 4:00 a.m. making this post.) I thought for sure I would have very sore muscles this morning.   I am thrilled to report that I do not.  So I can go at it full force again today.  I love when my garden mojo returns!

There is still plenty to do, the worst of which is solid staining all that white lattice and deck railing. HATE that job!

I Was Working in the Garden Before 7:00 a.m. This Morning

Time flew by!

I began by removing this bunch of black-eyed Susans (picture is from last year):

I have been wanting to remove them for a couple of years. I find them weedy-looking in this particular garden. 

Here they are on their way to the far end of the same garden where they will look much better.

I replaced them with the Speedwell 'First Love' that I bought a few days ago.

 I also dug up a few big clumps of grape hyacinth and put them near the speedwell.

Speaking of grape hyacinths, I really like them planted among the Lamb's Ear. I planted this area last year. It is the same Lamb's Ear that was underwater for a week.  It's amazing how plants spring right back of such abuse!

I spent over two hours cutting down old foliage and moving grape hyacinths.

Before long the sun was shining and I enjoyed seeing the garden in a different light. Since I work everyday and tend to be gone on weekends, I rarely see my garden at 9:00 a.m. 

I liked the sun shining on the webs in the lavender.  As soon as I finish this post, I will be going out there with a paper towel and scooping them all out.

On my way back out now.......happy gardening!

Still Cool and Rainy

I went out after work and took a few pictures. Despite the cool, rainy weather, I have a few bloomers.

Can you believe my tulips are just beginning?  I have not planted new tulips for two years, but I have a few that decided to bloom this week. I call this the "Wagon Wheel" garden. The tulips have have been quite successful. It's unusual for me to have most of the original bulbs blooming after the first year.

The next garden is what I call the "Driveway Garden". Most of the tulips nearest the ugly steps have died out. But the yellow tulips on the opposite side of the driveway are putting on a decent show.

Those steps will be removed in early July and the new deck I told you about will be built to replace them.  It will extend out beyond the big Yew shrub in front of the porch.   It will be fun to get rid of the old Yew (and two other large shrubs) and redesign the front border.

I also have a nice bunch of grape hyacinth blooming--too bad they are not under those yellow tulips!

In the arbor gardens, I have some primroses among the hostas and dwarf lilies that are beginning to peek out.

I am hoping that it does not rain tomorrow so I can get out and do at least half a day's work in the arbor gardens. 

If you are following Roamy's adventures, check out where he is now.  That little rascal has left the USA and ventured into Canada!

Cordyline Australis and a few Other Purchases

I have always loved the red-leaved spiked foliage of Cordyline.  When I saw this nice big specimen for $7.99, I decided to buy it.

Once I got it home, I googled Cordyline Australis and found out it is also known as 'Red Star'. I also found out it gets HUGE--way bigger than I expected.

This container came from this Flicker account and uses just two flowers.

This one came from the same Flicker account is gorgeous with just the Cordyline alone:

I don't think  hope mine will get nearly that large since I don't live in a tropical climate (FAR for it - LOL).

I am thinking more along the lines of it being a nice filler for one of my Tropicanna planters--hopefully in a nice new container that I plan to buy to put on the new front deck (once it's built).

I also bought some coleus 'Sedona'. I think its purple center will be wonderful planted in the same container as the Cordyline.

I found some small purple fountain grass ($5 each). I adore purple fountain grass so I had to buy two of those.  Normally I don't plant pink flowers , but this speedwell 'First Love' appealed to me, so I bought one.

 I remember last fall that I planted quite a few short pink lilies and this might look nice planted in the same garden.

Right now all of my purchases are sitting in the garage awaiting warmer weather. I am hoping that I can get my containers planted next week.

Mid May and STILL too early to plant

I had a few double early peony  Monsella tulips  (yellow with a red stripe) that bloomed yesterday. 

I cut them all and put them on my dining room table (with a few other tulips/daffodils) where I could enjoy them all this week.

They are much smaller than they were when I planted them about four years ago, but they still make a nice dining room table centerpiece.

DH had to go to ACE Hardware tonight to get some fertilizer.  While he went looking for that, I headed straight for the little flower section they have...the first time I have looked for annuals this year!  I found a few things I just had to buy:

Flowering Kale in purple and green/white.  I have only planted this once, but it is so wonderful in the fall (if you can get it through the worm eating stage).  I decided to give it a try in some of my containers this year.

 I also picked up four six-packs of Salvia Victoria Blue.  It will get a foot and a half with blue spikes that look good in so many container combinations.

I put the flat in the garage as it is still too cold to plant outside.  Today it is 52 degrees.  I have found that if I don't  buy them when I see them, I probably won't ever see them again this season.

I also picked up a cinnamon basil plant:

I have no idea what foods would be good with cinnamon basil? Suggestions are welcome!  Even if I never eat it, I will get $2.00 worth of pleasure just walking by it all summer and rubbing a leaf between my fingers, then smelling that wonderful aroma!  I will pinch off the flowers that are already on this plant.

We had to go to a builder's supply store to look at composite decking after work today.  We are having a small deck built this year on the front of our home to replace our crumbling concrete steps.  We hired the same contractor who did our living room last fall.  He won't be able to build it until early July, but we had to pick out the color so it could be ordered.  We decided on a TREX Transcend product. The color is called Spiced Rum. Here is the tiny little sample piece with my salvia tag on top:

The railings will be white.  We are both happy with our selection. It should be totally maintenance free...unlike our large back treated wood deck which we will be staining this week.  As we age, we are realizing that we cannot keep up with all the maintenance the stained wood/solid-stained white railings requires. TREX is a fake wood that never has to be stained.  It is at least three times as expensive as treated wood, but since the front steps deck will be pretty small (9ft. x 8ft), we decided to splurge to eliminate the maintenance.

I guess as you get older, you have to pay more to work less. 

It's a sad fact of life.

Warm Weather Wardrobe Purchases

I have not shown you my most recent wardrobe purchases. I bought them all in a fit of optimism, thinking that spring would be here soon.  I am still waiting for spring, but when it decides to arrive, I will be ready!


I came home from work this afternoon and decided to do a couple loads of laundry. . . it's raining so I can't work in the garden (what a surprise).

While doing the laundry, I decided to give myself a pedicure to match my new flip flops (my bright red toes were a definite clash) and I may want to wear these this weekend.

Can you believe that I paid $1.05 for these jeweled flip flops?  I did. At JC Penney last week. They sent me a $10 off anything coupon and these were already marked half price for $10.98. With tax my total came to $1.05. They are even comfortable!  What a bargain!

Last month I bought some denim wedgies with a big frontal flower.   I can't remember how much they were.


Do they look like two different colors on your monitor? 

Well, they are. I liked them so much that I bought a black pair and a denim pair.  They were buy one and get a second pair at half price.  I wore the black pair last week when we went to a S*hania T*win concert...someone who looks/sings like S*hania. It was fun. DH LOVES S*hania and this look alike was just as sexy.  While on the dance floor, he kept leading me over until we were right in front of her so he could get a close-up view! LOL.This pic is from her web site. She wore that costume for her last act.

The only other wardrobe piece I bought this month was a red sleeveless dress.

It's a ponte knit and casual enough that I can slip it on after work and wear it just to hang out on the deck.

It is supposed to rain for the next few days.  I was scheduled to take next week off, but the Big Kahuna told me the weather forecast is cold (nothing above 55 degrees) and rainy for next week.  So I canceled my vacation.  I was intending to work outside and get all my garden chores done, annuals planted, etc. I guess that won't be happening for a few more weeks.

Mother Nature is NOT Being Nice to Me this Year

My newly-purchased potting soil is waiting in the garage...

 along with my order from Breck's that has been sitting on this shelf unopened for over three weeks. 

I have no idea why this company keeps sending me dahlias in early April when I can't even think of planting them until June 1.  I can't remember what else I ordered...I guess I should open the box and take a look...maybe tomorrow.

I had intended to plant them today before they rot in the box.  I even called DH from work and had him run out and buy the potting soil. Once planted,  I would have to keep them in the garage for another 3 weeks (at least) until it was warm enough to put them on the deck.

Unfortunately when I got home from work today it was in the low 50's, rainy, overcast...not a good day to work outside.  So the box of dahlias will have to sit on the garage shelf for another few days.

I did get out yesterday for about an hour after work.  I spent half of my time on this little area near the large arbor. 

Yes, that overflowing wheelbarrow load of pine needles/winter debris came from the tiny area in this picture.

I was happy to see that the hens/chicks survived another year on the big piece of Lake Huron driftwood.

It is pretty difficult to kill hens/chicks...even in Northern Michigan where they sit atop a piece of driftwood with little soil all winter long.

On the opposite side of this area, I have some Bergenia budding out.

I was distressed over the big bare spot between the Bergenia and the Lamb's Ear. I kept thinking that there was no way I would have left this big bare area when I planted it (it's not bare in this picture because I forgot to take a pic before I replanted, so I ran out a few minutes ago and took a picture).

I decided something must have died out over the winter and I  planted two of the Silver Mound Artemisia I bought last fall:Since I had silver-leaved Lamb's Ear on each side of the Bergenia, I thought silver in the center would be good.

Something kept nagging at me that another plant was already in that area.  When I got up this morning, I looked through some of my Gardens 2010 files and saw that I had indeed planted a nice hosta in this area.

I saw no sign of that hosta when I dug out the space for two Silver Mound Artemisias--maybe I moved it last fall?

After work today I snuck out between the raindrops to take a look:

Look--- there it is!  The little nubs broke ground over night. I was so lucky that I did not dig into the hosta.  Now I will probably have to move the artemisia I planted yesterday. 

I will wait for a warmer day to do that.

My Mission Was....

to find something to use this can of chalkboard paint on (notice that I do have a hyacinth blooming--spring is trying to arrive!).  I bought it a month or so ago because I am always wishing I had chalkboard paint for projects I see in magazines. Of course now that I have it, I don't know what to use it for.

It's currently chic to have chalkboard bottoms on wine glasses so you can write names on the glass (so guests do not get their glasses mixed up).

I was going to do that, but then thought, WHY?  I just know they won't wash nicely. The paint is sure to chip and become a big mess. . . I will regret that I was ever silly enough to paint the bottom of my wine glasses. So I decided against painting the bottom of the wine glasses.
Before I got rid of my old pantry door, I wanted to turn the top into a chalkboard. Google "chalkboard doors" and you will see some examples like these:

Very cool. But now I have a new door, so I did not do this either.

I finally decided to do a little pig menu board project.  Here is the before pig holding a favorite albeit tattered recipe:

 and here is the revised chalkboard holding piggy:

 He can still hold a recipe, but now I can also write fun little phrases on the board.  I am happy with this easy project. Now I just need to find a use for the rest of the paint.  I think I will make some sort of hinged menu board. I just need to find a couple pieces of thin wood.  Anybody have any other ideas for a small chalkboard project?

Last night I made pot roast soup for dinner.  It was very good. I hope I have enough left for tonight!

I just used 2 cans of beef broth, leftover pot roast, a bag of frozen veggies and three kinds of pasta. I love a full meal in one bowl!

Have You Been Watching the Eagles?

Most of you have probably already found this link. 

It's a slow day for blog fodder, so I thought I would throw this out just in case anyone is interested. It's fun to watch the baby eagles live from their nest in Decorah, Iowa.  I just saved a screen shot. The quality is much better than what you see in this picture.

Have fun!

What's Blooming Tuesday

The only thing I have blooming are the daffodils I showed you Sunday. So today I will show them again, but with a different twist.
Last night I wanted to have a Cinco de Mayo dinner and I used the same bouquet in a different vase and setting.

The bright yellow daffs worked well with the big paper flowers that I hung upside down from the chandelier.
Don't you just love these flowers? My friend at work made them. She is the F&B Director and she needed big flowers for one her bar parties. These were sitting in the liquor room for the past year and she let me borrow them for last night.

I won't show the entire table because I am going to do another post on my tablescaping blog.

All the water is now gone from my gardens, so I hope to have some blooms next week. In the meantime, please check out the other gardens at Jean's place.

May Day Bouquet

It was cold and rainy this morning.

Then the rain stopped and the temperature soared. It is now 75 degrees! Our warmest day of the year so far.

I went out and picked the few daffodils I had blooming and made a little May Day bouquet.

I think spring has finally arrived!